Monday morning, I took a taxi to the Sheraton in downtown Chengdu to meet a potential investor and bring him to our factory. Professor Yan took us on a quick tour and I took a few pictures (previous post). We then had lunch at the company cafeteria and I think the food was too oily and spicy for me. From my supermarket trip, the most common/cheapest cooking oil is rapeseed oil which heavier and not as healthy as corn/sunflower oil. After work, Leon and I was supposed to have dinner with Professor Yan but I fell asleep in his hotel room (only ¥168 per night!). After an hour, I decided just to go home and crash.
On the way to work, we drove by an amusement park that just opened at the end of last year. It's called Happy Valley and I think it's one of four in China. The all-day admission fee is ¥110. Leon and I thought it was pretty cheap since Disneyland is $70+ but the local people thought it was pretty expensive. From the road, I could only see some roller-coasters through the morning mist/smog.
The next day was pretty similar. We went to work, had some noodles for breakfast (not sure if this also contributed to my food woes), and went to a vendor's office/factory to discuss business. They're our main raw material supplier but are also trying to get into the solar business. They acquired a huge piece of land in the high-tech zone next to the airport but are short on capital to finish up construction. Their chairman just bought a Lexus LS470 in Chengdu for ¥1.2M, a huge markup over US prices.
Their main building... pretty impressive looking.
Some of their buildings used for refining minerals.
Unfinished building. There were going to build two of these huge buildings for solar cell production. One building was completed but it's also pretty empty inside. I suggested they can play soccer in this building.
After yet another greasy lunch in the vendor's cafeteria (much nicer though), we headed to the airport to pick up another business guest. On the way back, the accumulation of greasy/spicy food finally hit me hard and we had to pull over on the side of the Airport Expressway for me to puke out two day's worth of food. Sigh... I guess I should have puked before we picked up our guest. After returning to the office, I laid down on the couch in Leon's office and too a nap. Once again, I skipped dinner and just slept all evening and all night. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I was fine with Chengdu food for the first few trips; it's only recently that I've had severe stomach problems here in China. :(
1 comment:
dude that sounds terrible man, sorry to hear that. get some rest? do you have cipro? if you do, take some. it is truly magic, i don't know how i'd survive china without it.
sad to say, most expats, include myself, live with chronic low-grade gastrointestinal problems in China. it is really annoying, but the food here is so dirty, and there's just no culture of hygiene in commercial food preparation, it's just sad fact that people learned to live with.
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